


Better Left Unsaid

by Jadiona



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Romance, Supernatural Elements, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:07:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29775249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadiona/pseuds/Jadiona
Summary: A parallel universe where the Cullens are werewolves, the elders in La Push are the Cold Ones, and Bella was a more a typical teenager sent to Forks for reasons left unspoken. Set years after the fateful day in the meadow, a look at where they are now. Written for DeJean Smith for FAGE 13
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale, Carlisle Cullen/Esme Cullen, Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, Emmett Cullen/Rosalie Hale, Jacob Black/Renesmee Cullen, Sam Uley/Emily Young
Kudos: 1





	Better Left Unsaid

**Author's Note:**

> FAGE… The 13th.
> 
> Title: Better Left Unsaid
> 
> Written for: DeJean Smith
> 
> Written By: Jadiona
> 
> Rating: T
> 
> Pairing: Edward/Bella
> 
> Beta Note: At the moment the only beta this story has had is Grammarly and my self reading it over, as such all errors are my own. I do intend to send it to an actual beta in the future so an updated version will hopefully eventually will replace this, but I don't know when that will be.
> 
> Summary/Prompt used: A parallel universe where the Cullens are werewolves, the elders in La Push are the Cold Ones, and Bella was a more a typical teenager sent to Forks for reasons left unspoken. Set years after the fateful day in the meadow, a look at where they are now.
> 
> If you would like to see all the stories that are a part of this exchange visit the facebook group: Fanficaholics Anon: Where Obsession Never Sleeps, or add the C2 to get all the stories direct to your inbox.
> 
> (A C2 will be set up for all FAGE 13 entries, and details will be posted on the Facebook page)
> 
> Disclaimer: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Better Left Unsaid**

Bella sucked in one last puff before dropping the cigarette to the ground and stubbing it out with her foot.

"Those things will kill you, you know," Edward said as he walked up to where she was standing on the clifftop.

"A little hard to. I'm already dead." The words – words she said every time he chastised her on her bad habit – made her smile wryly.

"Living dead." She could hear the scowl in his voice without turning around.

"Aaaand that makes a difference?"

The argument was one they'd had many times. So was the argument on her state of undeath, though the fact she had no heartbeat, didn't have to breathe, didn't have to eat, didn't have to sleep, and didn't even have to drink – albeit drinking _blood_ was a rush she enjoyed – sort of proved she was the one in the right. Edward, her best friend, and immortal enemy, was just stubborn.

"There's no proof smoking won't kill you."

"I'm pretty sure the elders on the res wouldn't have been there to turn me if smoking could kill my kind. All of them smoke peyote and wild tobacco."

Being turned was a choice she hadn't made. Instead, she'd been taken to them on her deathbed more than twenty years prior after Edward had almost killed her.

She still wondered, would she have gone hiking with him had she known he was a newly reborn – not turned, only vampires were turned – werewolf with no self-control?

To this day, she had no answer. Just as she still wasn't sure if she would have been turned had she been offered the option instead of having it forced upon her... Part of her suspected she'd never know.

She saw out of the corner of her eye as Edward shook his head but didn't continue the age-old argument. "What are you doing up here, anyway?"

"Just enjoying the sunset." It was the only time it was even relatively safe for her to be out when it was still up, even on the Olympic Peninsula – the cloudiest and dreariest area of the United States.

He made a show of looking up at the extremely overcast sky. "What sunset?"

"You know my eyesight is different than yours, Edward." Sometimes it actually scared her just how much she could see. However, being able to watch the last vestibules of light shining through the clouds as it set for the evening was one sight she never tired of.

"What are you doing up here?" she asked, turning the question on him before he could continue the onslaught of curiosity and casual poking that was normal for him.

"Looking for you, of course. Tomorrow night's the full moon; I was hoping you'd come to the clearing and watch. You know, from one of the trees or whatever."

She'd done it before, years ago, before Carlisle had tried to kill her for invading their private rituals. "I don't think your father would appreciate me coming to that."

"This is different. He knows I've asked you to be there... He's going to bring someone over tomorrow night, and I want you to see it."

When she'd first been turned, she'd been obsessed with learning everything there was to know about all species of supernatural, and she'd asked him about how their transitions worked – in part to understand why he'd taken her to the cold bloods in La Push rather than his own father. That had been years ago, though, and she no longer was _that_ curious.

"Why? What's so important about this?"

"I know you're still curious..." He looked away from her, staring into the clouds. "Besides, you need to be there, trust me."

His voice was super subdued all of a sudden, something it almost never was.

Bella glanced at him curiously before deciding to lighten her best friend's mood. "I'm not curious."

His lips stretched into a brief grin. "Yes, you are. You're always curious."

It was true, and she knew it, but she'd deny it for the rest of her afterlife. "Am not!"

"Yeah, right." The amount of sarcasm he could fit into two succinct words never ceased to amaze her.

"I'll tell you what I always am; I'm always _thirsty_."

Unlike Jacob and the others who had shown her the ropes after they'd turned her, she wasn't a good girl. They all drank from deer and other large game. And when she'd first woke to her new life, she'd tried it their way, but she'd never successfully managed to get her eyes to the calm and beguiling gold they had.

Instead, she relished in the taste of human blood, and though killing people wasn't necessary, she had killed her fair share of people.

Her eyes stayed permanently red.

"We're all some form of animal," Edward agreed.

A keening howl split the air as the sun set fully.

Still, Bella knew the howls of all of Edward's family... Knew how to parse out what it meant from the tone. "It sounds like Jasper wants you."

"The full moon is close enough now that it's easy for us to shift, you know this," he murmured. "And I'm the only one who can really run even close to as fast as he does. He enjoys the run, as well as being able to share his kill with someone. It's too bad you can't run with us."

She knew he didn't mean literally. Though Jasper and Edward were the fastest in their family, she could keep up with them in speed. In fact, if she pushed her limits, she could surpass them. The thing was, she wasn't pack, and she didn't understand the harmony they shared in it all.

Sure, Edward and she had talked about it numerous times, but there was no way for her to join in it.

"Then you better go."

"I suppose so..." He breathed out a quiet sigh. "But I'm serious. You need to be there tomorrow night."

"I'll think about it." Bella had already decided, of course. But she saw no point in telling him her decision.

"Do that." He reached up, touching her cheek with the back of his hand.

She closed her eyes at the touch, not bothering to open them as he fled. If she followed, she'd probably be able to catch him naked, at least briefly – she'd done it before – but she didn't bother.

She left her eyes closed for several moments before finally opening them as a shadow separated itself from a tree.

"If his senses were better honed, he'd realize why you smoked out here most nights."

"It would hurt him if he did figure it out. He wouldn't understand our relationship, Samuel." Bella lit up another cigarette, breathing in a puff of smoke before handing it to him.

"That's nothing. _Even_ _I_ don't understand our relationship," Sam replied after taking his own breath of the smoke. "Jake was your creator, not me."

"Jacob would never help me the way you do."

"That's because he'd like to see you rise above the temptation," he said quietly, stopping suddenly as if hoping Bella would agree with his assessment or say she'd give it a second shot. But when she left her mouth firmly shut, he finally continued, "The one you asked me to trace down, Tyler Crowley... He's serving life in Washington State Penitentiary. Maybe you should look for a different target."

"It won't be my first time breaking into a prison."

He shook his head before taking another draft of the cigarette and then passing it back to her.

…

Edward looked towards the surrounding trees, almost missing the shadow sitting in one of the trees as he did his quick sweep of the area for his fourth time since he'd arrived.

Rosalie snorted indelicately. "Yes, your great love is here."

He snarled, the wolf in him begging to break free.

"Cool it, I mean the leach no harm." Rosalie huffed. "I still don't get why you've never told her just what she means to you."

"There's no point; she's a vampire." He'd never explained the idea of embedding to Bella, and he really had no intention to change that

"And whose fault is that? I realize you couldn't have forced her into transition so far from the full moon, but Carlisle could have done it. He's almost four hundred years old."

None of his family understood why he'd taken Bella to their enemies. If he had to guess, none of the La Push elders understood either, but he'd had his reasons.

"Some explanations are better left unsaid," he said quietly.

"When you say things like that, I can't help but wonder if that whole thing wasn't planned."

"I'd never have risked her life like that on purpose." Edward was adamant, and yet he sometimes wondered if some part of his mind hadn't done it on purpose. Even though he'd been a werewolf for almost twenty-five years, he still didn't fully understand the wolf side of his mind – and he couldn't help but suspect.

The sound of a four-wheel-drive pulling to a stop close by brought the conversation between Rosalie and him to a halt as Jasper spoke loudly.

"I once again must protest this, Carlisle. There's no reason for the girl to be changed by us."

"She asked. I see no reason to turn her request down."

Edward felt his eyes silver as he crossed his arms over his chest, allowing his claws and fangs to extend. The wolf in him speaking through his mouth before Carlisle could. "If you wish to challenge our alpha and make the choices for this, then you must challenge me first. If you challenge, then I choose this to be the form we fight in."

Jasper turned enough to glare at him but couldn't quite meet his fully silvered eyes. "That's unfair, you know I don't have a half form."

"That's not my problem." Both Edward and the wolf in him knew that Jasper's speed would give him the advantage in full wolf form.

"Stop this," Alice's small voice said loudly as she stepped forward, her eyes a solid milky white – an ever-present reminder to the potential danger of being reborn a werewolf. "Tonight is not the night for this. There would be no winner if it happened here and now."

Edward doubted that. In his half form, he'd be able to easily rip his brother's throat out.

Alice's unseeing eyes stared straight at him. "Yes, if you fought tonight, you'd kill my embed mate... whether I'd fight you after the fact of if I'd be put down later due to my grief is yet to be determined, but in the long run, it wouldn't matter, the guilt of what you did this night would drive you insane. Carlisle would eventually have to put you down. And then what happens to your embed mate – the girl with no pack and no coven? The day will most likely come when Jasper and you will meet in a challenge circle, but that day is not today."

Alice stepped back as he looked down. Two years before he'd become a werewolf, Alice had warned him that someday Jasper would challenge to become alpha, and if he still stood with Carlisle at that time, he'd die as well, so he understood what she was really saying when she said someday he'd meet Jasper in a challenge circle.

The sensation of eyes boring into the back of his head made him turn to stare into the trees, his eyes locking with Bella's.

There was a world of mistrust and betrayal looking at him.

The sound of feet scuffing on the ground as a voice started to speak gave him a reason to turn away from the accusing eyes.

... Edward had a feeling they'd get more accusing in a few short minutes.

"Can I take this thing off yet?" the voice of a young woman asked.

"In a couple of minutes, we're almost there," Emmett's rumbling voice thundered.

"Why do I have to wait until we're wherever there is?"

"You can still change your mind. We want as much of our sanctuary and privacy protected as possible if you do."

"I'm not going to change my mind."

Emmett, with his massive six and a half foot frame, stepped into the clearing, a slender wisp of a brown-skinned girl with long, wavy brown hair next to him. Shaking his head, Emmett reached over and pulled off the mask from her chocolate eyes.

"Welcome to the inner sanctum," his booming voice did not provide the proper chill factor for the way he said it.

Across the field, Carlisle rolled his eyes. "Ignore my oldest son, but on the one hand, he is right. You need to think hard on this now because once I shift, there will no turning back from this path you've decided to endeavor. I will be honest, many do not survive this night."

The girl – Edward knew it was the wrong word as she was now twenty-one, but it was how he saw her – met Carlisle's eyes without fear. "I know what I want. I never got the chance to know my mom, but it's my understanding that a firm resolve is something that was passed down to me from her and gramps. I'm not going to change my mind."

"Very well, then if you survive this, welcome to the family, Carlie Swan."

The hiss that Edward heard made him flinch even as Carlisle's eyes started to glow silver.

…

Bella paced the forest the next night, waiting on the asshole to show up. She had every intention to call him every swear word she could think of.

He'd had no right to get her daughter involved in the supernatural world.

He'd had no right to keep it a secret that he'd embedded on her – something werewolves did based on scent, which meant he'd known since they'd first met. He'd _definitely_ known on that day in the meadow.

He'd had no right to not tell her how much of a boiling pot it was between him and Jasper.

She was going to strangle him after she yelled at him.

If the coward ever showed up.

"You need to calm down," Samuel said from where he leaned against a tree.

"Screw you, Sam."

"I don't think your mate would approve."

She opened her mouth to reiterate what she'd just said, only in a nastier form, but resorted to flipping him off instead. "You don't get it. You just don't."

"You've been venting to me about it for more than two hours. I have it pretty well figured out. He never told you how he embedded on you years ago, and now you can't help but wonder if he deliberately attacked you. I will say it's quite possible. I always found it very suspicious that the day he attacked you was on a day all of us were convened in a council meeting.

"You're also angry they changed the daughter you really don't even know – though I doubt Edward had much to do with why she went to them. If you spent more time in La Push and actually talked to your maker, you probably would have been prepared for this.

"Then you're concerned about the fact that Jasper is looking to take over Alpha. You must understand, they aren't like us. This is part of the natural life of werewolves. Honestly, Carlisle is exceptionally long-lived for his species. It's little surprise one of the males in his pack is contemplating overtaking him. Edward could leave the pack or step down as beta, leaving the position open for Jasper. Obviously, he wants to be the first line of defense, though.

"And with the seer of theirs, it might be why he brought you to us. Because had you been human or werewolf, you'd have been seen as his embed mate. You'd have been the first weakness Jasper or the seer could have used against him. It truly says something about how much he loves you, that he'd rather have you live on as his enemy than die as his lover." Samuel cocked his head inhumanly to the side. "I hear him coming now."

Sam did a little finger wave before he faded into the overhanging shadow of the tree.

A few short moments later, Edward stepped into her view.

"Damn you. How could you keep so much from me? How could you not warn me?"

He flinched. "Would it have you truly made it any better?"

She snarled, the sound nowhere near as impressive from her as what he could do, but she didn't care.

"Look, Carlie wasn't on me. She came to us. I didn't even truly figure out who she was until her last name came out a couple days ago. And as far as everything else goes, I swear I didn't consciously decide to take your choices away."

"And the stuff between Jasper and you?" Her feet had taken her closer to him of their own accord, until she was standing mere inches apart from him.

He shrugged. "Whatever happens in the future, will happen."

Bella slammed her fists against his chest. "Damn you. I hate you, Edward."

He grabbed her wrists, preventing her from pulling away. "I know. I love you."

She could have used force to pull away but didn't, scowling slightly instead. "Some things are better left unsaid."

His crooked half-smile graced his face. "I know."

She closed her eyes, whispering, "I love you, too."

"I know."

He leaned his head against hers.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: To DeJean, I don't know if this is the kind of story you wanted, but I took your prompt desiring fantastical elements and ran with it as best I could in the limited time I had. I will be honest, if I'd had months to write this instead of what I did get, I probably would have made a full length story. Sadly this is all I had time to flesh out so it has to be your imagination as to both the story before and after this. I truly hope you liked it.


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